Luther’s Sowing Machine
In a recent survey A&E - TV, tried to identify the people who most impacted our world in the last century. Scholars, politicians, and theologians came up with a list of one hundred. The list comprised a wide variety of people: Louis Armstrong #98, Nelson Mandela #81, Pablo Picasso #64, Franklin D. Roosevelt # 60, Marie Curie #53, Martin Luther King Jr. #33, Christopher Columbus #6, and Isaac Newton # 2. Among the rest of the one hundred, #3 and #1 surprised me the most.
The #3 was Martin Luther. As a Lutheran I would have chosen him as #2 at least, but the committee was probably not made up of many Lutherans. The #1 choice really did floor me. The #1 choice as the most influential person in the last 1000 years was Johann Gutenberg. This should not surprise us for he was considered to be the Bill Gates of the 16th Century in the field of communications.
Lutherans of all people should be the greatest users of the printed word. The movable type printing press which Gutenberg invented literally became “LUTHERS’S SOWING MACHINE”!
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After the resurrection of Christ, the disciples were God’s instruments to share the Gospel with the world. Because their travels were limited, and they could not preach to the thousands scattered world-wide needing to hear the truths of God, they wrote the message. Four of them shared the life and ministry of Jesus Christ in the Gospels, one wrote the history of the early church (Acts of the Apostles) and others wrote letters to the far-flung groups hungry to hear.
The limitations of communication systems all changed through God’s bringing together Luther and the gift Gutenberg brought on the scene. The books that Luther wrote were not books as we think of them today, most were written on parchment sheets sewn together and sold at minimal cost in the market places. We would probably call them tracts today.
There were reformers before Luther, but many of them failed in their work and most died because of their ministry. Luther’s inexpensive tracts covered the world of his day and by God’s grace made the Reformation possible, scattering the Gospel Seed world-wide. “Luther’s Sowing Machine” was and is “GOD’S SOWING MACHINE”!
For years I searched for a simple tract that would present the way of salvation in a Lutheran way and in a very brief time, and have a way for the reader to respond and ask for more instruction or even a personal call. The “World Home Bible League” came up with an outreach using a postcard, offering a free basic Bible course. We used their idea but added a witness portion to a postcard to request more. So was born the “One Love Fits All” tract.
THIS IS THE BEST TRACT THERE IS FOR LUTHERANS TO SHARE THEIR FAITH IN CAPSALE FORM. THE ONL Y TRACT THA T CAN BE FOLLOWED UP BY THE READER FOR MORE INFORMATION AND BY THE GIVER TO GIVE HELP. — I CHALLENGE YOU SHOW ME A BETTER ONE!!